


a sprinkle of sweetness

by Izcana



Series: Very Sterek Fests [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, A Very Sterek Winter, A Very Sterek Winter Fest 2021, Alpha Derek Hale, Derek likes to be praised, Dog Jokes, Flustered Derek Hale, Getting Together, Hence the title, How Do I Tag, M/M, Mates, Mates Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, POV Derek Hale, Pack Mom Stiles Stilinski, The Camaro - Freeform, The Pack, compliments, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28957197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izcana/pseuds/Izcana
Summary: The day started as normal.Derek shrugged on a green Henley, rolling his eyes at the chatter from downstairs. The pack was staying over, and boy, did they make a lot of noise and a big mess.Normally, Derek wouldn't care, seeing that he never spends a lot of time downstairs anyway, but he cares this time, for some absurd reason.(Not because Stiles has to clean up after them, he told himself firmly.)OR5 times Stiles complimented Derek indirectly and 1 time he shouted the praise from the rooftops (literally).
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Very Sterek Fests [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2123931
Comments: 2
Kudos: 285
Collections: A Very Sterek Winter 2021, Sterek Goodness





	a sprinkle of sweetness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Parkkrys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parkkrys/gifts).



> A Very Sterek **Winter** Day 1 Prompt: praise
> 
> I'll try to come up with an actual title soon...  
> UPDATE: Yay! Something better than "Derek enjoys praise"!

**1.**

The day started as normal. 

Derek shrugged on a green Henley, rolling his eyes at the chatter from downstairs. The pack was staying over, and boy, did they make a lot of noise and a _big_ mess.

Normally, Derek wouldn't care, seeing that he never spends a lot of time downstairs anyway, but he cares this time, for some absurd reason. 

(Not because Stiles has to clean up after them, he told himself firmly.)

"Derek!" Erica cackled as she cannonballed into the pool, which Stiles had firmly ordered him to get. "Get in!" Derek had sworn off pools at first, not over the whole Kanima and being in a pool and almost drowning incident, but Stiles had insisted, and honestly, when had Derek ever denied Stiles anything? 

" _Never_ ," he muttered to himself.

Evidently, Erica thought he was speaking to her. "Come on! It'll be fun!"

Stiles chimed in, wagging his eyebrows ridiculously. "You can always go skinny dipping..." 

"Have you seen his figure?" Lydia said, smirking sweetly. 

He noticed a glare that Stiles sent in her direction.

"Lyds!" Jackson whined, splashing a wave of water in Lydia's direction. Of course, he didn't dare to _actually_ splash her, because if he had, there would be hell to pay.

Goodness knows not to mess with Lydia Martin.

"It would be a pity to soak that shirt." Apparently, this was the time for his knight in an orange swimming costume to save him. "It really matches your eyes. I think it looks good."

Derek's eyes widened at Stiles' brutal honesty, which was not even trying to hide the obvious praise.

_What?_

* * *

**2.**

"Hey, Sourwolf," Stiles said, casually dropping off a salad and a container which must've contained some homemade food, just like it always did on May 5th. "You should eat," he said simply.

The day his family burned because of a _stupid_ mistake he made when he was 15.

The stupid mistake of dating a Hunter, an _Argent_ , no less.

And not telling his parents.

"You should eat," Stiles said simply. "I'm pretty sure you didn't eat anything this morning."

"Yes, I did," Derek argued, his brain flashing back to the small piece of buttered toast he had found in the pantry.

Stiles narrowed his amber eyes, his nose scrunching up distastefully. "One piece of toast does not count as breakfast, Der. Just because I'm not a werewolf doesn't mean I don't know how to tell when someone's lying, though. Especially you." His tone became softer. "Please, Derek. You need to eat."

Derek glared at him; he didn't know which part to focus on - the fact that Stiles knew _him_ well enough to know when he was lying, which almost _no one_ knew, or the fact that he cared enough to beg Derek to eat some food.

The Pack usually left him alone after he sent them a glare that could kill.

"Honestly, Stiles," Derek muttered underneath his breath, uncapping the lunch box.

He gaped at the flower-shaped sandwiches and the cute spiralled biscuits. "Seriously, Stiles?"

"I couldn't resist, okay?" Stiles said, giggling at the incredulous expression Derek's face held. "See, that's your loft!"

Derek turned his unimpressed gaze towards the pitiful pile of food that was "his loft".

"It looks so much prettier now, you know?" Stiles told him softly, patting him on the arm. 

Stiles was the only one he felt comfortable with. The rest of the pack was very tactile, touching often and scent marking each other, which Derek would return sometimes, but he would never join their "puppy piles", or their ridiculous "cuddle sessions", as Scott liked to call them.

"The loft, I mean," Stiles clarified quickly when Derek finally remembered to shoot him a questioning look. 

Derek smiled at their interlocked fingers, despite forgetting when exactly those fingers had intertwined. "Thank you, Stiles."

He meant it, too. The honest words were one of the many kind things that came from Stiles, and all of them had shot a burst of warmth straight through his bloodstream. It felt like his skin was bubbling, the tiny pricks of pleasure forming goosebumps along his forearms.

"No problem!" Stiles agreed. "I did most of the renovations, remember?"

And _there_ goes the moment...

* * *

**3.**

"Must we always spend time like this?" Stiles demanded as Derek pulled his sleeve forcefully towards the Camaro. "I mean, can't we go on a date like normal people?"

After the monster was defeated, Derek would then spend the next couple of weeks thinking (more like obsessing...shut up, Erica!) about those words. " _Can't we go on a date_ _?_ "

Instead, he gave no reply as he tugged Stiles' hand and sat him down in the Camaro.

"Drive!" Stiles shrieked as Derek pressed the pedal, the Camaro shooting off abruptly with a screech of the wheels.

"Remind me, why are we driving and not killing it, again?" Derek shouted (a very _manly_ shout, thank you very much), gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles dusted with a fine layer of dark hair. "You know I can easily kill it?"

"Do you really want everyone to see you killing it?" Stiles brought up, which fair point, but still...

"Let's just get this over with," Derek gritted out as he slammed the brakes once they got close to the Preserve.

Overall, the fight was _very_ anti-climatic, even more so than Stiles and Derek had predicted.

Stiles grinned, wiping off a layer of sweat that graced his forehead with a tired smile. "I love your Camaro, Derek," Stiles proclaimed. 

Derek's heart fluttered traitorously, and he preened internally. _Stiles complimented his car! That means he complimented Derek, right_ _?_

No, Derek did _not_ just think that..."Why?"

"She's saved us so many times," Stiles scolded, waving his hand in the air. Derek squeezed it, bringing it down. He did not feel like being whacked with Stiles' clumsy limbs today, thanks. He deserves a break after the whole killing-monster business. Being an Alpha werewolf was _hard_.

"She should marry Roscoe." That's when Stiles burst into incredulous cackles.

Derek returned it with a flat look that did not droop Stiles' smile at all. He was quite glad, honestly.

Stiles' voice and laugh were _angelic_. (Don't tell Stiles he said that.)

* * *

**4.**

"I can't believe you're reading, Stiles," Derek muttered to the teen, who looked up, offended. 

"Excuse me?" He cut out, pointedly. "I'm no Scott, you know? I'm not too focused on my _girlfriend_ and forget to _read_. Besides, this GPA isn't going to keep itself up."

Derek looked away. Stiles was making it harder to resist, honestly.

 _How could we resist a mate so powerful, kind, motherly, and now_ smart _?_

Stiles might've accidentally fried all of Derek's brain cells in one go.

Accidentally. 

Too bad he doesn't know how Derek _actually_ feels.

"What book?" He questioned, steering the conversation topic away from something that was potentially...triggering, to say the least.

He turned his head around to catch a glance of the cover, which Stiles flipped over for easier access. "It's Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen."

Derek curved his lips into a smile at the sight of the book his sister used to force him to read to help her with her book report presentations. It brought along so many fond memories, and he was glad that there were people to recall those memories with him, as well as make new ones. "It's my favourite book."

Stiles' eyes twinkled. "Really? Me, too! People say it's dumb, but whatever, who cares? You have good taste in books, by the way."

* * *

**5.**

It was a normal Pack situation when it happened again.

It was movie night.

Isaac had his head on Stiles' lap, and his feet were dangling on Erica's arms. Erica, in turn, was leaned up against Stiles and Boyd, who leaned into her in return. Lydia and Jackson were having their own makeout session in the corner, their feet occasionally intertwined with Allison and Scott's. Cora and Malia were cuddled against Stiles' legs, and in a pile along with Scott and Allison.

Derek couldn't see why his Betas liked to sit like that; he didn't imagine it to be very comfortable.

He himself was holding hands with Stiles, but that was it.

 _That was_ it _, okay? He wasn't doing any inappropriate groping!_

"Are you even watching?" Isaac accused, peeking out at him from Stiles' shirt. "You're staring at the back of Stiles' head."

"He is?" Stiles squeaked and then flushed. "Sorry, it's just...stalker-like of you..."

Derek rolled his eyes. Evidently, he and Stiles ("Sterek, Derek, it's a good ship name!" "What's a ship name?") would not work together, since a relationship usually involves 2 or more people's consent, and if Stiles doesn't like him back... There was nothing he could do about it, then.

Stiles flushed under his fierce gaze. "It's not funny!"

"Sure, it's not," Derek agreed colloquially. "It's not funny, and I was _totally_ watching the film."

"Haha," Stiles enacted, making sloppy air quotes at him, which he snapped his jaws at.

"Whatever," Isaac yawned, stretching like a cat (Stiles would _totally_ make a joke out of this) across Stiles' legs. "It's boring, anyway."

Stiles glanced around. Erica and Boyd were snoring in the corner, and Lydia and Jackson were cuddled together, whereas Allison and Scott were flat-out sharing the same air. As in, what? Don't they find the smell of their breaths disgusting? 

"The pack has grown, you know?" Stiles whispered once he made sure everyone was asleep already. "It's better than before. I'm proud of you."

Derek's eyes watered slightly, and though he would never admit it, a tear slipped out of his eyes.

* * *

**\+ 1**

"Keep goin', Derek!" Stiles screamed from the rooftop when he collapsed. "You can do it! I'm proud of you!"

Derek, who was busy pulling the boxes along, didn't quite catch it, but it rang dully in the back of his mind for a while. It took _a while_ for his brain to actually start computing. "You...complimented me?"

Stiles, who was panting on the ground with a scattered pile of tools next to him, rolled his eyes, though it lacked its usual vigour. "I've been doing that for the past _month_ , idiot!"

"You did?" Derek questioned, putting down the boxes. 

His brain was much too distracted to carry furniture after what Stiles just said.

"Say that again?"

"I've been doing that for the past _month_ , idiot!" Stiles screamed, alike to the original mimicked sentence.

Derek glared at Stiles; he knew that wasn't what Derek was asking for... "No, say you're proud of me."

"I'm proud of you." Stiles' heartbeat did not falter. "Also, you're really kind, generous, and stubborn. It's what I like about you."

He raised a brow at the kind words which melted him inside, as cliché as it was. "Anything else?"

Stiles winked. "That, and you're incredibly hot when you're shirtless and sweating. May I kiss you?"

"You may."


End file.
